1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to prodrugs of therapeutic hydroxyaromatic compounds (HAC), e.g., phenols and catechols.
1. Description of the Prior Art
There are many drugs that contain phenol or catechol groups which suffer from premature metabolism at the hydroxy group during absorption after oral administration. Previous efforts to protect the hydroxy groups have been generally unsuccessful since the protecting groups employed to date are either too labile (O.dbd.COR or O.dbd.CR) or too stable (CH.sub.3).
It is an object of the present invention to provide prodrugs of therapeutically effective phenols and catechols which may be administered orally and are not subject to premature metabolism but which hydrolyze readily at the intended site of treatment to release the active drug.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a pharmaceutical composition comprising a prodrug which may be more readily orally administered than the corresponding drug.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a therapeutic method of treatment involving the oral administration of a prodrug which has an enhanced stability over the corresponding drug.